Update on the New Orang-utan Baby at Chester Zoo

A
rare baby Sumatran orangutan has been officially named by primate keepers at
Chester Zoo.

Six-week-old female ape Siska, who was born in September to mum Subis, was given her new moniker after staff confirmed her gender.

Siska shares her name with a
specialist orangutan vet from Indonesia who first spotted the new baby clinging
to her mum on the morning she was born. Vet Siska Sulistyo, who normally works
in sanctuaries in South East Asia, has spent three months in Chester working
alongside the zoo’s resident veterinary team as part of an initiative to
exchange knowledge and skills.

Chris Yarwood, lead keeper at Chester Zoo, said:

“Siska has been named after an
Indonesian vet who is spending some time working with our animal health teams
here at the zoo. She was the very first person to spot our new arrival the
morning she was born, sowe
thought it was a fitting name particularly given the vital conservation work
that her team carry out in South East Asia with a range of endangered species.

“Sumatran orangutans are being pushed dangerously close to extinction every day
and, as it stands, they are one of the world’s most endangered species.

“Siska is a very special addition to
both the zoo and the European-wide breeding programme which aims to have a
healthy safety-net population of the species in case the worst should happen,
extinction in the wild.”

It’s estimated that less
than 6,500 Sumatran orangutans now remain in the wild as a result of destruction of
habitat for logging, wholesale conversion of forest to palm oil plantations,
fragmentation caused by roads and hunting.

Siska, alongside mum Subis and the zoo’s other Sumatran
orangutans Puluh, Emma, Indah, Tripa and Tuti will all be moving into a brand new
home at the zoo’s £40m Islands development later in the year. Through its Realm of the Red Ape Conservation
Programme, Chester Zoo is helping field workers in Borneo to restore forests in
which orangutans live. The zoo also backs the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation
Project in Sumatra, which provides education workshops in schools close to
areas where deforestation occurs, aiming to teach children about the importance
of preserving the biodiversity where they live.

This month, Chester Zoo launched its annual Go Orange campaign which aims to
protect Bornean and Sumatran orangutans in the wild.